THe DO's and DON'Ts of working with a VA

This being my first post of 2010, I wanted to address some simple Do's and Don'ts. There are definitely exceptions to many of these. Some may seem obvious, some may even be funny but I wanted to share nonetheless some of my day to day encounters.

1. DO-Pay your VA - A VA is not a professional volunteer and normally spends much more time
than you contract for, supporting you. Don't let your VA be the last person that you pay.
2. DON'T-Disregard the amount of time that it takes to complete a project. (i.e. you may tell
your most annoying vendor to call your VA for a quick question but he/she ends up on a call
for an hour.) Who's paying for that call??
3. DON'T-Expect your VA to sit at their desk staring at their machine waiting for an email from
you. If you send me 40 emails today, don't keep asking me, "Did you get my email?" and
please do not resort to texting me to look at my email if I haven't replied within 2 minutes.
4. DO-Did I say, Pay your VA? There is nothing more annoying than a client that is demanding
and always in a rush but never pays their invoice on time.
5. DO-Learn to like and even love your clients. If you do not love your clients, you are in the
wrong business and your VA will spend the majority of his/her time covering for your bad
attitude. Don't forget the way that your VA has to interact with others on your behalf, also
affects the way potential clients view the VA. If you constantly cancel appointments, a
potential client who initially was impressed that you had a VA and considered hiring them will
begin to think that your VA has bad organizational skills. I recently spoke with someone that
had just hired a VA and they mentioned that they considered hiring me but that my client had
missed so many meetings with them that they assumed that I was not organized.
6. DON'T-Assume that all social networking sites that your VA is a part of belong to you. (i.e. if
your son/daughter is having a birthday party, even if your VA is assisting you with planning
it, don't assume or demand that your VA broadcast or post it on their facebook, etc. ) their
Friends or Followers after all, may not care about your event and you will cause an annoyance
for those that communicate with your VA.
7. DON'T-Ask me to lie for you. Enough said!!
8. DO- Be a person of integrity. Do what you say that you will do. Do not promote yourself as
something you are not and have your VA cover for you. See #7.
9. DO-Refer others. If your VA has done a good job, refer them to someone else. My main client
is always telling people about me and I greatly appreciate it and return the favor.
10. DON'T-Insult your VA by disregarding them as a professional because they might work from
home. Professionals that work from home are in some cases, even more disciplined and work
many more hours than those in a traditional office setting.
11. DO-Provide money for expenses. Other VA's that I have spoken with say that
we get burned the most on postage and Cell phone charges. Mailing out CD's and books cost
money and unless I give you permission to give out my cell phone number, please do not use
it as your alternate business phone number. Please provide for that or do it yourself.
12. DON'T- Be insulted if your VA of 12 years raises their rates. (Especially if you have raised
yours consistently each year. When I started out, my rates were $8.00 an hour, it's 20
years later, there is no way...)
13. DON'T-Expect your VA to be a mind reader. Give as much information on a project as
possible and be consistent. Don't change the process every week depending on how
your week is going.
14. DO- Be a person of great character. Do not hire your VA because you believe you can gain
inside information about one of their current clients. A good VA will not share their
information nor will they share yours. I have had quite a few prospects rap up an inquiry
call quickly when they ask about a current client and I share that they will not have access to
that clients e-lists or tips by hiring me.
15. DON'T-Waste your VA's time. If you are really not interested in that new MLM Sales pitch
that Mr. X has been calling you about, please don't make your VA call and listen to the pitch
knowing full well that you are not interested.
16. DON'T-Assume that your VA will attend all of your events or work at your office. VA means
Virtual Assistant. That means that a VA works, well...virtually. Offsite. That is one of the
major perks of being a VA. You no longer have to attend events and corporate functions.
Don't be disappointed if you decide to have a weekly meeting with one of your vendors and
your VA does not have it on their calendar to attend.
17. DO-Considered your VA an integral part of your team.
18. DO-Discuss any and all changes to working parameters, projects. Communicate often.
19. DON'T -Be afraid to use technology. VA's use technology. EMail is a best friend to a VA
20.DO-Appreciate your VA. Just remembering that as much as your VA loves you, your family
and your business, your VA is a business professional and should be treated as such.

OK, there might be a part II...stay tuned.